Social media is becoming an increasingly growing platform for ministry and an effective tool for sharing the message of the gospel. With literally hundreds of millions of people gathering daily on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Socialcam, Pinterest, Path and Vine, there is no easier way to communicate to the masses than through social media.
Dr. Leonard Sweet (@LenSweet) posits in his book, Viral, that social networking is poised to ignite the next great revival. One only needs to view the timelines of such Twitter luminaries as Dr. Hart Ramsey (@hartramsey), Pastor Jonathan “YPJ” Miller (@PastorYPJ), Pastor Chris Hill (@PastorChrisHill) and countless others to see that many pastors and preachers have found Twitter to be a tremendous tool for ministry.
Additionally, not only have I found Twitter to be an effective tool as a preacher, I have also found it to be an effective tool to help me in my preaching.
I know that it seems counterintuitive that faceless interaction through a computer or smart phone can help me face my congregation each week, but here are four ways Twitter has made me a better preacher.
Twitter has made me more:
1. Concise.
Twitter has a 140-character limit for each tweet. Therefore, an effective “Tweacher” has to master the art of saying a lot with a little.
Far too often, as preachers, we are guilty of saying a little with a lot. As I heard Bishop T.D. Jakes (@BishopJakes) say, “I have never seen so many preachers take so long to say so little.”
Twitter taught me to be more judicious with my words and more concise in my preaching. When I learned to take some of the “fluff” out of my sermon, my congregation was able to enjoy more of the meat!
2. Conscientious.
To be conscientious means to be careful or meticulous. Twitter has certainly forced me to be more careful and meticulous in my choice of words and how I choose to use them.
When you are aware that one tweet has the potential to be retweeted to literally millions of people in a matter of seconds, it causes you to pause and ponder what you’re about to tweet. We used to have to bite our tongue; now we have to bite our thumbs!
We are living in a global society. Likewise, in our local congregations, all it takes is for one quote or a few words to be taken out of context to cause a firestorm. Therefore, it behooves us to consider carefully what we say from the pulpit before we say it. Twitter taught me that valuable lesson.
